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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:9-10; Rom. 15:16; Eph. 4:11-12; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 10:2-3a, 5-6; 1 Thes. 2:7; John 21:15; 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 23a, 24-25, 31; 1 Pet. 2:2; Rom. 12:1; Col. 1:28-29
I. The service of the Body being the service of the New Testament priests — 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:9-10:
А. Being a built-up priesthood in which everyone participates and coordinates in service.
B. Their duty being the preaching of the gospel to save sinners, making them sacrifices for the building up of the Body of Christ, the house of God — Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:9b, 5b; Eph. 4:11-12.
II. The procedure in the service of the Body:
А. Preaching the gospel to save sinners — Mark 16:15-16; Luke 10:2-3a, 5-6.
B. Feeding the lambs as a nursing mother — 1 Thes. 2:7; John 21:15.
C. Perfecting the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ — Eph. 4:11-12.
D. Prophesying for the Lord for the building up of the church — 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 23a, 24-25, 31.
III. The three steps of offering by the priests of the gospel in the church service:
А. Preaching the gospel to save sinners, offering them up as sacrifices to God — 1 Pet. 2:9b, 5b; Rom. 15:16.
B. Nourishing the believers so that they may grow up in life to present themselves as sacrifices to God — 1 Pet. 2:2; Rom. 12:1.
C. Laboring and struggling according to the Lord’s operation which operates in us in power to admonish and teach every saint in all wisdom, that we may present every one of them full grown in Christ — Col. 1:28-29.
We have seen that the living in the Body is for the expression of Christ. Now we have to see that the service in the Body is for the ministering of Christ. Superficially speaking, we cannot find one clear phrase in the whole New Testament that mentions the service in the Body. But if we put together the portions in the Scriptures concerning service, we can see a clear picture of the Body service. The term service implies a lot. Mainly it denotes ministry. In the original language ministry and service are the same word. We can say that ministry is service and that service is ministry. At the same time service includes work.
We all know that we do not live for our living but for our work, that is, for the accomplishment of something. This is the goal. It is more important than our living. However, without our living we cannot work. We have to live properly before we can work diligently. The two are related to each other. I hope that from now on you would have the deep impression that the Christian living is corporate and of the Body; it is not individualistic. The reason for this is that we are all members in the Body of Christ and cannot be independent. If a member is separated from the Body, it will dry up and will be unrelated to the Body. It will then have nothing to do with all the riches in the Body. Hence, all our living must be in the Body. Furthermore, even our service, work, and move must be in the Body.
Serving, working, and moving in the Body mean not being independent. Whatever you are doing for the Lord, whether it is the preaching of the gospel, the feeding of the lambs, the perfecting of people in the group meetings, or the prophesying in the district meetings, you must remember that you are not doing it alone but are doing it in the Body. When you work, it is Christ working; it is also the Body of Christ working. Seeing such a thing encourages us very much. It also puts us very much on the alert. We have to be careful about our speaking and actions, for we are the members of the Body. This feeling for the Body is very precious. It is what is usually known as one’s frame of mind. The frame of mind is one’s perception of things and is very crucial. When there is the proper and thorough perception of matters, the frame of mind is normal; otherwise, the frame of mind is not normal. If the frame of mind becomes very abnormal, there is mental illness. Strictly speaking, we Christians are somewhat “mentally ill” in regard to the matter of the Body of Christ. If we do not have an adequate understanding of the Body of Christ, our frame of mind is not proper, and we will not be able to have the common recognition of the Body of Christ. Hence, we must understand that our being Christians is fully a communal matter. In order to seek after spirituality, we must be in the Body. Also, in order to serve the Lord, we must not be detached from the Body. Once we are detached, we are through.
The difference between the new way and the old way lies here. The old way did not make it necessary for us to be attached to other members. It was individualistic and not of the Body. This is contrary to the Scriptures. The principle of the Bible is that everyone has to preach the gospel. All must not only preach but also preach corporately. We become a team in the Body. Everyone functions. At the same time there is coordination, and no one is independent. The old way has one great drawback, which is that in it the organic function of all the members was killed. Only a few capable ones were left there working. Nothing of the Body was seen. Hence, in the new way every saint is able to serve organically, and every member is attached to the Body to receive the life supply in the Body and to coordinate and function together.
The Body service that the Lord is after is the service of the New Testament priests. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:5 through 9 that we are the living stones to be built up as the house of God and become a holy and royal priesthood. This built-up priesthood is one in which everyone participates and coordinates in service, where we tell out together the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. This is the Body preaching the gospel for the offering up of spiritual sacrifices. According to Peter’s word, we the New Testament priests are to be transformed into living stones in the hand of God and are being built into a “hood.” This building requires some time. It cannot be produced overnight. For us to preach the gospel, we must first be built up. Once we are built up, we become a “hood”; and when this “hood” preaches the gospel, it is the Body preaching the gospel. Here everyone preaches the gospel, yet no one preaches individualistically. Rather, everyone has a part, and at the same time all coordinate together.
Some have thought that it is an easy thing to change from the old way to the new way. Actually, this is not true. But it is true that this is the way to serve with the priesthood. Just wait and see; in another ten years it will be A.D. 2000. I believe that by then not only you and I will be preaching the gospel by visiting people, but also a lot of other Christians will be doing so. They will all take this new way. Now in places overseas, especially in the United States, the glimmer of the new way has gradually begun to appear. Many Christians know that to depend on spiritual giants does not work any longer. These Christians are constantly improving their methods. Unless it is the whole Body moving, and moving in coordination, the Lord’s gospel will have no way on earth today. This is the reason that we have to change the system. However, we should not be impatient, and we should not try to be hasty. Such things cannot be done hastily. There is the need to labor and to be patient.
Since coming back this time and seeing your meetings here, I feel confident about your practice of the new way. I also have seen a few good testimonies in the United States. In the San Gabriel Valley, near Anaheim, two churches were raised up within the last two years; one is in Monterey Park, and the other is in San Gabriel. The former began with about thirty people. Now after two years they have increased to about a hundred and fifty. The rate of increase has been quite fast. This is the result of practicing the new way. The latter church began with about fifteen people. Now in the Chinese-speaking meetings they have over fifty people. In the English-speaking meetings they have over thirty people. They do not have big gospel campaigns, and they do not have spiritual giants. All of them are ordinary saints. Every one of them is working there. If you asked them to change back to the old way, to have one man speaking and all the rest listening, they would be unwilling to do so. This is because in the new way, in the Body of Christ, everyone is serving and everyone is organic.
I have recently discovered that whoever opposes the new way and attacks me or my ministry becomes dead within. But whoever practices the new way and receives my ministry becomes living. Life is from God and death is from the devil, who has the power of death. Whoever accepts the new way becomes overcoming and rejoicing, and whoever opposes the new way becomes sad and dead. This shows us where the living God is and where the death-reigning devil is. I know that Satan hates me. It is because I have been commissioned by the Lord. This commission is not just the release of His word. Since 1984 I have been very clear that the Lord wants me to change the old way and to promote the new way so that the Body of Christ may be recovered. Because of this, Satan and all the demons have risen up to launch their attacks.
Hence, we all have to see clearly that what the Lord wants and desires is the Body service. The Body service is the service of the New Testament priests. When all the saints are the New Testament priests and are built up into a priesthood with everyone participating and coordinating to serve together, we will have a healthy Body service.
According to the revelation of the Bible, the main work of the New Testament priests of the gospel is the saving of the repentant sinners and the offering of them as sacrifices to God. These sacrifices are the material for the building up of the Body of Christ, the house of God. Hence, what we are doing here today is not merely the preaching of the gospel to save sinners but the offering up of the saved ones as sacrifices to God. Once they are offered up, they become materials for the building up of the Body of Christ. Hence, the New Testament gospel begins with the preaching of the gospel for the saving of sinners and continues unto the completion of the building up of the Body of Christ. This is the duty of the New Testament priests of the gospel (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:9b, 5b; Eph. 4:11-12).
Now let us look at the procedure in the service of the Body. The first step is the preaching of the gospel for the saving of sinners (Mark 16:15-16; Luke 10:2-3a, 5-6). In the past we preached the gospel by visiting people at their doors. Now I would strongly recommend the way of preaching the gospel by telephone. You must first study to find out how we should get the telephone numbers. This kind of gospel preaching is easier and faster than preaching the gospel through visiting people. Over the telephone we do not have to force people to come. We can say, “We are believers of the Lord Jesus, and we love the Lord. We like to, number one, preach the gospel to people; number two, introduce the truth; and number three, help people to know the Bible. Which one would you like? If you would tell us, we can arrange a time to come and talk to you. And if you would like to, we can pray together now over the phone.” If you do this, and especially if the sisters do this, you will surely meet some willing receivers. You can try this out. Another way is to write gospel letters. With the letters you can enclose a return mail response card. On the response card there can be a few suggestions. For example, one can be, “Can we come to your home to discuss with you the gospel of Jesus Christ?” Another may say, “If you have believed in Jesus, we would like to discuss the Bible with you face to face.” You can add other things as well. The goal is to get an answer to your letter. All three methods are useful. Those of you who do not want to go out to visit people can write gospel letters. Those who do not like to write letters can make telephone calls. Whichever way you take, you can find willing receivers. In short, you have to practice a lot and study a lot. Later on, others may find other ways of gaining people.
The second step is the feeding of the lambs as a nursing mother. The Lord Jesus asked Peter in John 21, “Do you love Me?” If he did, he should feed the lambs (v. 15). Not only do we have to save the sinners, but we also have to feed them, as nursing mothers cherish their own babies (1 Thes. 2:7). I met a couple who brought sixteen people to salvation within a few months after they were baptized. Among them one-third attend meetings regularly. When this couple stands up to give testimonies, they are like a mother to a group of children. Hence, the new way works. But no matter how much it works, it depends on man taking this way. As long as we labor and strive, we can keep people and help them to grow in life.
The third step is the perfecting of the saints unto the building up of the Body of Christ. This step is the fulfillment of Ephesians 4. There it says that all the gifts are for the perfecting of the saints. The perfected saints will then go out to perfect others. Eventually, everyone will be able to do the work of the ministry, which is the building up of the Body of Christ. In the Body service we must perfect the saints to be able to do what the gifts — the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers — can do. The gifted ones work first for a while. When the saints can work by themselves, the gifts can go away to perfect others. At a certain point, everyone will be able to work and perfect others.
The fourth step is the prophesying for the Lord unto the building up of the church. Concerning prophesying, Paul says clearly in 1 Corinthians 14 that first we all have to desire prophesying (v. 1). To prophesy is not to foretell; rather, it is to speak building up and encouragement and consolation to men (vv. 3-5). Furthermore, this prophesying is something that every one of us can do, so that “all may learn and all may be encouraged” (v. 31). Prophesying is not only the capability of every believer; it is also the most excellent gift for the Body (v. 12). If there is no prophesying in a local church, there will be no excelling gift. The practice of the old way did not apply this excelling gift. Now for the service of the Body we all have to learn, exercise, and use the excelling gift of prophesying to speak for the Lord, to speak the Lord forth, and to speak the Lord into others for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ.
Finally, we have to see the three steps of offering by the priests of the gospel in the church service. The first step is the preaching of the gospel for the bringing in of the saved sinners to be offered up as sacrifices to God (1 Pet. 2:9b, 5b; Rom. 15:16). We should never merely lead sinners to salvation without offering them up as sacrifices to God. There is a big difference here. As soon as you lead a person to salvation, you should offer him up. You have to pray for this matter. Perhaps you have to pray with them and offer them up in a serious way as sacrifices to God.
The second step of offering is the nourishing of the believers so that they may grow in life and may present themselves as sacrifices to God. We feed the newborn babes with milk that they may grow (1 Pet. 2:2). Then we exhort them, according to Romans 12:1, through the compassions of God, so that they would present themselves as a living sacrifice to God. This is different from our offering of them to God at the time of their salvation. At that time they were babes. Now they have grown up and can present themselves as living sacrifices to God.
The third step of the offering of the gospel priests is that we, the gospel preachers, use all wisdom to admonish and to teach every man that they may be presented full-grown in Christ to God (Col. 1:28). This is not an easy work. For this reason Paul says that he was laboring and struggling according to the Lord’s operation, which operated in him in power (v. 29). This is not just a work but also a struggling. Hence, for this we have to labor and struggle. This is like competing for the crown in the Olympic games or like wrestling to win. These require labor and struggling. The goal is to present every saint full-grown to God. This is what Ephesians 4 speaks of. We have to arrive at a full-grown man, at being full of the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (v. 13). In this way we will accomplish the building up of the Body of Christ.
I hope that since you were born in this age and have heard this word, you would dive into the flow of this new way and would catch up with the Lord’s leading. We live and serve in the Body in such a way, and we lead others to live and serve in the Body so that everyone can be just as we are and can realize their function as members and live in the Body. Eventually, what we can do, they will be able to do also. Each one of us will be functioning and will coordinate to serve together. This service is for everyone, and it is in the Body. Only then will the will of God be accomplished. This is the law in our service. It is also the law of God. By the Lord’s mercy, what we are passing on to the brothers and sisters is not something rash and light; rather, it is based on the Bible and came about through much consideration and study. May the Lord be merciful to us. The future of the new way is very bright. May we all strive to walk in it.
